


extracurricular

by boysbackintown



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, College Admissions, Depression, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Introspection, Juno is basically a PTA mom, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - The Trials of Apollo, Past Child Abuse, annabeth is alive and good if you were worried about that, crew!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boysbackintown/pseuds/boysbackintown
Summary: Juno wants Jason to get into an Ivy but Jason would rather get into—“—Percy?” Thalia suggests.“Oh my gods,” Jason scowls.





	extracurricular

**Author's Note:**

> jesus christ finally i got this done. 
> 
> this idea was pitched to me. i like the idea of pta mom juno now.
> 
> incredibly unaligned with canon.

“You were suppose to be my champion,” is the first thing Jason hears when he wakes up that morning.

The shrill ringing of his alarm kicks off immediately, alerting him of first period. It spontaneously combusts.

“Your Highness,” Jason replies blankly, staring at the smoldering remains of his alarm clock. Maybe it was a good thing that Brian— his roommate— got mono and had to be sent home.

Juno’s dark, silky hair is tied in a tight and high ponytail. She is dressed in a pair of brown slacks with a white button down and dark blazer. She looks like an office catalogue model for supplies and used computer desks. Her lipstick is a dark brown, the only radical touch to a business casual look. Still, she holds herself like a warrior. If Jason was a businessman, he’d certainly be worried about losing all of his stocks, or whatever, to her.

Juno looms over his remarkably shitty twin-sized bed with a very specific type of disappointment that crawls underneath Jason’s skin and buries itself into his nerves.

It irks him how he still craves approval from someone like her. Reyna once told him it was because Romans are raised like that— they survive only by the approval of their mentors, the wolves, their peers. And Jason— well, Jason’s case is a little more extreme than the most extreme of cases.

And it’s reminders like that— of the amnesia Juno caused that wiped his past and most of his Roman instincts— that make him feel more empty and worn each time he realizes how it still impacts his life, even a year later.

“You were suppose to be my champion,” she says again. Her voice is crisp and stoic but not exactly angry. “Yet you waste your days in this school taking,” she waves to his nightside where several of his textbooks are stacked, “useless art classes.”

The art classes where for the statues of the minor gods he thought he could build. Annabeth and him talked about it briefly a while back and Jason got so _excited_ by the thought.

And now, he is wondering if Brian really has mono and if Juno just decided to nuke the poor mortal’s immune system to get Jason alone. Jason gets up, trying not to be self-conscious of his hair sticking up in fluffy blond tuffs. Or that he is wearing a raggedy t-shirt promoting a zombie movie Nico made him watch. Or that he lost muscle mass over the year and after settling his gold, thin wireframe glasses on the bridge of his nose, he does not look like the powerful son of Jupiter he was trained since birth to be.

Juno’s face focuses in Jason’s vision and its angrier, now that she isn’t a blur of features. She is glowing too— too beautiful and powerful for the small dorm room with shabby fluorescent lighting. She needs to be in a courtroom, threatening to stab old men with her heels. Nerves continue to dance under Jason skin.

“My Lady—“ he says, slowly. “The war is over. Your plan had worked?”

He wishes he could be angrier like Percy or Leo. Maybe in the beginning, he was, but it simmered in the back of his mind, evaporating eventually into just plain sadness. Every demigod feels a wistfulness after the quest, the battle, the war, and Jason feels horrible to think his situation is any worse. He’s lucky, in comparison to a lot of people. He’s alive. He’s safe.

“And that’s it? These— demigods,” She gets the word most associated with infidelity out between her teeth. “They are representatives of their godly parent, so to speak. I do not have heroes. I took you under my care for all of these years. You carry my name.”

 _Under your care?_ Jason thinks as Juno continues talking.

“Your father and I want something more for you— what’s the point of being confined to the walls of New Rome or that camp? No, the hero of Jupiter and Juno— the rulers of the heavens— should be a leader in all worlds.”

Jason’s thoughts are mangled things, shooting from: _I doubt Jupiter does any thinking about me_ to _This is kind of embarrassing_ to _Is she asking me to overthrow the government?_

Instead, he asks in the politest way possible, “And how do you see me doing that?”

Juno picks up one of Jason’s textbooks and with a swirl of a finger, watches the pages flip lazily as she scans the contents. “You are sixteen, yes?”

“Yes.”

“College seems like the next step.”

“Yes, New Rome’s has been the one my former Praetors…”

“I said all worlds, Jason Grace,” She tucks her hand inside her blazer, pulling out a thick stack of pamphlets that definitely should not have been able to fit in there.

Jason gingerly reaches out for the stack, feeling absurd as he sees the smiling faces of bright 20-somethings hanging out in lush college quarters and historic libraries. Jason reads: Yale, Harvard, Columbia…

“Harvard has the most name recognition but you can never discount Princeton or Yale,” Juno says, tapping her hand to her chin. “And Columbia would be useful, as you would be nearest to your family.”

Jason is not sure whether she means Camp Half-Blood or Mount Olympus, but he puts the pamphlets on his bed, overwhelmed.

“I can always try but there is no guarantee—“

“Your grades are been good enough. You are dreadfully behind in AP Gov. Although, I suppose it makes sense why your familiarity of current events is so murky.”

“I—“

“And really, Jason, kids these days participate far more. It takes more than a good score— you need to be involved.”

“Well, there’s this club that seems kind of cool. They make documentaries for fun. It’s creative and—“

“Sports, I hear, are much more favorable.”

“I don’t really— I get attacked a lot in North Cal so I don’t really have the energy to—“

“Football is barbaric, in my opinion. My ridiculous son’s fondness for it more or less correlates with my disdain.“

“I—“

“Basketball season is not here yet. No, they are looking for something more unique. Less in a box.”

“Well, I can always check out—“

“Ivies look favorably at crew.”

“I don’t do great in water—“

She is gone.

 

***

 

Percy laughs.

And laughs.

And laughs some more.

“Are you done now?” Jason asks politely. If there is anything Jason learned about Percy, it’s that the son of Poseidon gets easily annoyed then he realizes that he isn’t riling you up like planned.

Unfortunately, Jason doesn’t have Annabeth Chase’s Jackson-immunity, because his polite remark has a bit of an irritated edge to it, so Percy continues laughing through the glossy connection of their IM.

“I need pictures of the costume—“

“Uniform.”

“It’s a bodysuit, isn’t it? The preppy ones with the shorts—“

“Jackson—“

“I’m literally Googling your school’s colors right now. I’m risking my livelihood for this.”

“Don’t you have a infant sister in your apartment?”

“Bright yellow. Oh, Grace. Oh, _Grace_.”

“By Jove, Percy! Will you settle down?”

“You will look like the sexy Halloween costume of a bee.” Percy pauses thoughtfully. “Or a Minion.”

“Meet me at Camp tomorrow! Because you’re teaching me how to do this, asshole.”

“What. I didn’t agree to this. Wait, I have an essay due on Monday? Hey, did you just swear?”

Jason hangs up on him, wondering what the hell a Minion is.

 

***

 

“We have Camp classes dedicated to this, you know.”

Jason rubs the early-morning grit out of his eyes, letting a yawn that crack his sleep-riddled jaw. He flew his way from coast to coast, a trip deeply exhausting and a little bit risky. He once crashed in Kansas, sparking more than enough jokes from Nico and, surprisingly enough, also Reyna.

“Why not get them from the master himself?” Jason didn’t want to admit that he tried to teach himself and nearly drowned, a special type of humiliation he wasn’t interested in the other Greeks seeing. Percy, at least, saw Jason be badass before.

The sun is bright in the early morning, the Camp lake bobbing a bright, clear blue. It’s hazy, like the world isn’t up yet. It is peaceful and sweet Saturday, even with Percy growling in the background. He is holding one of those dangerously caffeinated off-brand energy drinks in his hand, wearing a worn out Goode High School swim team tank top.

“How did you get into the team without knowing how to row?”

“They are mid-season, so they didn’t have…auditions?”

“Try-outs,” Percy corrects.

“Yeah. And the coach sort of looked at me and said I’m in.” Jason assumes it was his height— the captain of the team said anyone over 6’ is usually guaranteed. Paired with years of monster fighting, even after slimming down a bit, Jason still is athletic-looking enough. “Also, I feel like Juno might have something to do with it.”

“What?” Percy snaps, green eyes alert and sharp. He seems to have subconsciously positioned into battle mode.

“No, no plan to wipe your memories. Just. Uh—“ Jason feels his ears go red. This is so embarrassing. “She wants me to go to Harvard?”

Percy’s face relaxes.

And then he starts laughing.

 

***

 

“Polos, please tell me she makes you wear those rich-ass polos. And khakis. Grace, you absolutely wear those khakis and boat shoes. Gods, I can’t believe I am associating myself with you right now.”

Percy is standing at the head of the canoe-crew-boat thing, a whistle dangling from his lips. His arms are crossed, and with his tan skinned against the blue waters of the Camp’s lake, he looks like every handsome ‘80s lifeguard mixed together with, well, a god.

Jason feels like his skin is peeling from the rays, a sunburn bright and red across his nose. He has freckles like Thalia but are never noticeable unless you are up close— Jason has a feeling they will be much more apparent from now on.

Percy had pushed them to the middle of the lake, a wave of his hand that gently carried the boat. It was like luggage at an airport carousel. Jason feels more and more out of his depth— it’s humbling, actually.

“Alright, push your arms like— no, Jason, like this,” Percy reaches down to reposition Jason’s arms. His hands feel warm but not sweaty at all. Jason wonders how Percy does it.

“Maybe I should have done the rowing machines first. Nail the movements.”

“I’m sure you can move your arms just fine. You are just clumsy on water, man,” Percy grins at Jason through his messy black bangs, still grabbing his arms. “I like seeing you like this.”

“Figures.”

“Also, you are sweating like crazy. Who the hell wears sleeves in this weather?”

“It’s cold when I fly!”

“Maybe you should ask Apollo up there to turn down the heat.”

“Oh, my big brother and I don’t really talk. Not much in common.”

“Oh damn, I wish he was like that with me,” Percy grumbles. Jason laughs, delighted. It’s cut off short as Percy shrugs and says, “Okay, take your shirt off.”

“What? No. Are you not seeing this burn at my neck?”

“Easy, easy, I packed sunscreen.”

“Cancer is very much a thing we can get, Jackson.”

“Look, we can switch shirts. I don’t really feel uncomfortable out here,” Percy shrugs.

Jason pauses, tapping his fingers on his oar. “You probably sweat so much in that thing.”

“Look’s who talking— okay yeah there’s a bit here. I’ll dry it off anyways.” Percy presses a solid hand against Jason’s shoulder and it is like all of the moisture evaporates. Which it probably does, Jason guesses.

Percy does the same with his tank top, before peeling it off.

“You know, as a kid, I use to call these wife-beaters? I didn’t even know what I was saying back then. _Wife_ and _beaters_ — holy Hades, who came up with that?” As Percy talks, his tank pulls over his face and Jason can see the scars from fighting, the ripple of his stomach, water dripping down his collar.

Jason swallows and looks away, closing his eyes and taking off his shirt as quickly as possible.

“Thanks for shielding your eyes, Grace,” Percy says, a grin in his voice. They switch shirts and Jason’s eyes are still closed. “I am quite mindful of my virtue. Artemis would be proud.”

“That is something my big sister and I have in common.”

 

***

 

They meet every other weekend at Camp, practicing on the lake. Jason’s arms burn and Percy is ruthless.

“Grace, sit up straight.”

“Come on man, weren’t you a baby soldier? Better posture.”

_“Arms up.”_

“Faster. A mortal toddler could do this better. Actually, me and Annabeth saw a movie last night about that. It was kind of lame so we distracted ourselves in other ways.” He waggles his eyebrows and Jason fake-gags.

One time, Jason tries to pout cutely, hoping it will convince Percy to splash some magically cold water on his face. “It’s so hot. Maybe if I had some assist.”

Percy looks surprised for a short moment, a half-smile weirdly genuine. Then he seems to catch himself and dunks a warmer-than-usually wave onto their boat.

“Stop sucking up to the coach, Grace.”

“Sorry, sir.”

Percy does than half-smile again, like he is surprised and caught off-guard. Jason gets another gross hot wave to the face.

 

***

 

His boarding school is fine, by all means. Jason feels like he is on the lake— uneasy on his feet and awkward. Turns out, he really has no idea how to talk to mortals.

What do you even start with? Jason can’t distract people with best ways to polish a sword or favorite spot with the least chimeras.

Jason likes people. He likes helping people and being useful. He loves making people’s day, reaching out, and his inability to do that in his boarding school makes him feel empty. He isn’t everyone’s friend (or hero) here.

They are rich-kid mortals, vicious in their own right. It’s like a mini-battle, every day, and Jason hasn’t developed the dexterity to follow along.

Some guys say horrible things sometimes and Jason has to lecture more often than not. (“Oh Jesus, Jason, are you done?”)

And now, Juno has switches his schedule— the Mist making him always present in heavier political science classes, taking his art and architecture course away from him.

Jason wants to see his friends. Leo is still traveling with Calypso and Jason has no way of contacting him. After his stint of amnesia, his friendship with Reyna has been thoroughly destroyed in a way that he isn’t sure he has the right to repair.

Nico hangs out regularly but the boy still feels the need to retreat to his father. Nico also has found a home in Camp with the sweet Apollo kid and Jason would rather rip his arm off than mess with Nico’s newfound balance with Jason’s stupid feelings.

He wants to hear Piper’s voice again. But after their breakup, Jason desperately wants to give her space.

The day he left her house, embarrassment turns over his stomach. What if he was annoying, boring, overbearing? What if Piper could tell that Jason was a big hunk of nothing— underneath bullshit speeches and a can-do attitude, he was empty and hallow?

He felt horrific to realize he is also a little relived. A voice, raspy and dark, says, _Thank the gods I don’t have to pretend to do this anymore._

Later than day, Jason took a bus aimlessly and lands in a park. The sun was setting. Jason guesses it would be pretty in the daylight, but in the glow of the evening, it seemed sober.

Jason walked through, staggering almost. His head hurt so much, a static in his ears

spreading through his head

filling his throat.

_Mommy?_

_Mommy, where are you going?_

Jason stumbled through the forest, no direction, blank and empty as he is.

_Jason, don’t fucking follow me._

_Christ Almighty, kid, can’t you do what I ask for once?_

Jason stood in the woods. The trees were tall, so tall. It was so dark. It was cold and the chill seeped into his skin. His eyes burnt and his hands shook.

He heard the wolves howl in the distance.

 

***

 

It’s a party that Brian’s friend politely invited him to. They sneak off campus, where everyone is shoved into the basement of an old factory. The shitter, the cooler, Alexander explains to Jason.

It’s a neon blender, lights flashing against mirrored walls. It’s no grungy basement. It’s slick, a DJ playing music in the background and packed with people. There’s a bar definitely serving alcohol.

“Uh."

“God, the homecoming party is always so trashy,” Alexander says with glee.

Jason makes gentle conversation with people passing by, skirting couple making out. He sees Brian and Alexander forcing a tiny freshman to drink a fifth and Jason shudders.

“Well, look who decided to join the rest of us!”

Jason turns and hisses. It’s Chloe and Chase— heirs to a video streaming service built for preteens in Palo Alto. It’s an absolutely morally reprehensible company— it once kept rolling out content of a vlogger that harassed some poor girl to die by suicide.

Jason counts to ten to himself quickly, before turning with a bright Praetor-to-new-demigod smile. “Hey Chloe. Hey Chase.”

They are tall, thin, very, very pale, with silky platinum blond hair and wide brown eyes. They are beautiful in a dead-eye model kind of way.

“Didn’t think this was your scene.”

“Yes, I thought you looked down on us,” Chase scoffed.

“Just because I choose not to drink doesn’t mean I look down on people who do,” Jason frowns. Chase has been out to get him ever since Jason helped their Latin teacher with the tires that Chase slashed in anger. Chase is also, unfortunately, on the crew team.

Jason’s boarding school is for guys, so Chloe is mostly an after-school sight. Still, just as horrible.

“You definitely give off judgmental Catholic vibes,” Chloe says, rolling a piece of hair around her finger.

“I’m sorry, I truly did not mean—“

“Anyways, where’s that cute girlfriend of yours?”

“It’s obvious that they broke up. I definitely saw Tristian McLean’s daughter with her tongue down a someone’s throat in a LA nightclub.”

“Someone’s?”

“Some dyke.”

“Aw, Jay, old girlfriend is gay because of you.”

“Yikes.”

“Bet she didn’t let you fuck her.”

“We’re 16,” Jason says uselessly, nerves rolling in his stomach. “We can’t go to nightclubs.”

 _“Oh my god,”_ They say in almost perfect unison.

“Did the billionaire who didn’t pull out just let wolves raise you?”

“Before dropping you off here and forgetting you?”

“You’re being terrible and disgusting,” Jason’s throat feels swollen.

“Jesus,” someone else is laughing at him. “Are you going to cry, man?”

“Come on Jason! Cut loose!”

Jason makes a retreat. _Coward, coward, coward._

He scowls and grabs a drink from a girl’s hand— ignoring her yelp of _hey!_ — and downs the whole thing. It’s sweet, surprisingly so. Fruity, with a tang that he later categorizes as vodka.

He goes to the bar. “Anything and a lot of it,” he demands.

The guy is a gangly college student with a sole patch and definitely does not look like he should be around high school students. He smiles at Jason with too much teeth. Jason’s too filled with rage to care.

Jason tries a beer. He does a shot with the football team and it’s horrible. He tries another one and doesn’t do a chaser. Everyone starts screaming, banging their perfect hands on the tables and flashing their iPhones at him. He thinks that monsters definitely could be attracted here with all of the signal being used.

The lights swirl around him. He definitely breaks someone’s designer heels.

The captain of the crew team puts a hand on his back and leads him to a corner where the team is.

“You know, man, you never truly got hazed.”

Jason’s head lulls on his shoulder. The captain smells good. He is quite handsome. Jason fingers itch to run his hand against the senior’s buzzcut— fuck, he wants to kiss someone. He also wishes Percy was here, which was a weird thing to think about after wanting to kiss someone.

People are laughing as he feels his shirt being torn open.

But someone gasps and jumps back. The crowd is full of shocked, pretty, and sweaty faces.

Jason looks down and blinks— his scars from battle are exposed, the one thing from his demigod life not covered by the Mist.

“What the _hell_ happened to you?”

Jason pushes them away. Things are a blur as people whisper around him. He finds himself in the alley, dark and grim.

He once read an article that Beryl Grace was famous for ending parties by puking on someone’s wife, punching someone else’s wife, and sleeping with someone’s husband in a closet. She once ripped a dress off an Oscar winner— including the bra— with surprising strength, and then winked at the crowd. “Someone didn’t get the dress code.”

Jason throws up, gagging on his spit. He's suppose to be better than this. 

He is so tired of feeling this lonely.

 

***

 

 

“Wait, wait, wait. You don’t even want to go to Harvard?”

“Or Columbia, or Yale. Basically, she said anything is fine except Cornell,” Jason shrugs.

“She. As in…Hera.”

“Juno, but yes.”

“Don’t make that the thing you correct me on,” Percy kicks at his side. “Your form is just stressing me out right now.”

“You are distracting me.”

“By doing _what_?”

Jason isn’t sure what it could be. Percy’s chatter is usually better than a radio— he always has something to say. But he is wearing a flimsy green tee and baggy shorts, sloppily put together and Jason just wants to—

He isn’t sure what. Panic settles in his stomach: _What the hell._

Okay, he’s lonely and Percy’s literally the only person he talks to regularly and with familiarity for a month. He is just, projecting on to him. Fixating. It’s embarrassing. Shut your brain up, Grace.

“How do you know how to do this crew stuff?” Jason redirects.

Percy takes the baits. “I took the classes my first week at Camp. Everyone was so disappointed— ‘The kid who took down the Minotaur was only good at canoeing!’ It felt…I don’t know…natural.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You game enough to skydive?”

“The risk is mitigated somewhat by the flying thing.”

Percy sighs. “I’ve got Blackjack for that.”

Jason smiles, “Come on, you never felt being Peter Pan?”

Percy wrinkles his nose. “Nope. But I will now request you to wear green leotard.”

Jason sighs and moves his arms in a regular beat, hissing as the lake pushes his boat with a vengeance. He wishes Poseidon would cut him some slack. Then he is wondering if the God of the Sea was punishing him for…Jason doesn’t know. Being gross about his son. Jason’s ears go warm.

“How’s Annabeth?” Jason says, desperately trying to remember his very good friend, Annabeth Chase.

Percy shrugs, rubbing the toe of his sandals against the boat’s inside. “She’s good. Working at New Rome.”

“That sounds nice. Still in high school with you?”

“Oh nah, she wanted to stay back with her dad.” Percy says with a shrug. “Grace, what does Hera want you to be, exactly? President?”

Jason blinks. “I think she wants me to be a general or something.”

“Gods, haven’t you had enough of that?”

“Little bit. How about you?”

Percy slumps into the boat. He tries crossing his legs but realize the boat’s narrowness doesn’t allow for that. So instead, he stretches his legs out and settles his bare feet in Jason’s lap. Jason can’t even look away, Percy’s face is right in view. Jason thinks about that scene in _The Little Mermaid_.

“I don’t know. I wanna go to college— I feel like I have to ‘cause my mom didn’t get that chance.”

“Yeah?”

“Marine biology is a scary, scary track. I looked at s-social work,” Percy stutters at that, as if he is shy. “I mean, I think it’d be, I don’t know, nice if counselors were’t shitty to poor kids.”

“That sounds awesome! Not the shitty to kids part.”

“I know what you mean, Grace,” Percy sighs. “Grover said it fits me.”

Jason grins at him, bright. “It does. Guy with a big heart like you can do a lot of good.”

He knows it’s true. Jason knows Percy has made missteps— his (now repairing) relationship with Nico is a prime example— but if anyone has actively tried to learn, it was Percy. Percy pushes himself to be a be better person and change— and that is hard to do. Jason always thought it was dumb to compare him with the son of Poseidon, because Percy just felt like a better person. He was just…whole.

Jason thinks saying all of that might make Percy get flustered, so Jason settles for a hug— his biggest and warmest one.

When Jason pulls away, Percy looks at him, almost wary. Then he shrugs and then unceremoniously tips into the lake.

“Aaah!” Jason splutters, wiping water from his face. “Percy? Percy!”

He sees the blurry image of Percy’s dark hair sinking to the bottom.

“Class’s over for today, I guess,” Jason mumbles.

 

***

 

Jason’s heart is so full right now. He felt so empty and hollow for so long. Too long. Percy makes him feel alive, electricity thrumming in his veins whenever the other boy is near him. Jason always wants him to be near him.

His hair is wild and dark around his face, his brows are dark and Jason wants to trace them with his fingers. His eyes are so, so pretty.

As Percy is talking about something, something dumb but wonderfully vivid because that’s who Percy is, Jason leans over and gently presses his mouth against Percy’s. His talking ceases immediately, ending with a sharp gasp. Jason can feel his eyelashes brushing against his as Percy blinks in shock.

Like, true shock. As if Jason stuck a plug in his arm and turned on a blender.

“I have a girlfriend, Grace.”

The giddiness Jason felt before washed into a coldness that makes his jaw rattle.

“And besides that, who’s fall in love with a traitor like you?“ Percy sneers, his face dark and so, so fucking cold. Jason has seen that look on Percy’s face and he never, never had it directed towards him. (Minus brain-washing.) “You left your post. Everything the Romans trained you for.”

“You ended up being useless.”

“Your mother must have known you would be worthless too.”

Jason gets up and tries to step back and—

 _“Fuckin’ Christ almighty!”_ Jason shouts, waking up.

His roommate gasps, his eyes bleary and textbook in hand. Jason checks his alarm clock— 2 A.M. Jason wiggles his toes, looking at his Superman socks with dismay.

“Dude. You _good_?”

Jason looks at Brian miserably. “Nope.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Jason buries his face in his pillow, trying to smother himself.

 

***

 

His crew members are alright weeks after the party— if still a little douchey. There’s a distance that Jason isn’t interested in filling and unfortunately that makes him come across as a little aloof and holier-than-thou.

His captain is nice though and tells him that he is doing great. Jason wonders what backstory they filled out for him.

Jason reports this (minus the party) to Percy. Annabeth is accompanying them.

She is on the pier, kicking her long tanned legs in the water. Her blond hair is tied up underneath a (normal) denim cape. She looks golden under the sun.

Percy tells her just that and she kicks a splash at him. He snickers and dive under, grabbing her ankle and trying to pull her in. She shrieks.

Jason turns away in his boat, their PDA suddenly not as cute to him as it has been months ago.

“Alright, back to work.”

Jason has been doing better, the water less annoyed with him than it was at the start. Maybe all things liquid finally realizes that the son of Poseidon is cool with Jason.

“Oh my gods, Jason, it is quite charming to see you be this bad at something.” Annabeth says with a smirk.

“Laugh it up,” Jason, showing off by trying to do a smooth circle. It instead pushes Percy off-balance and he snarls.

“He did fine last week. Wise Girl, stop with your hollering.”

“I’m being supportive,” she yells.

Percy blows his whistle at her and then at Jason for trying to jump over the boat.

After an hour, Annabeth jumps up and says she is going to be on her way out.

“Bye!” Jason says, waving his aching arms wildly from the boat. Gods, the rowing ache hits differently than sword play.

“Later,” Percy says with a flick on his hand, forcing Jason to curve his back properly again. It feels weirdly dismissive of Annabeth.

Annabeth didn’t seem to take mind as she left. 

“What was that?” Jason sounds, stunned. “Are you guys…fighting?” They didn’t seem like they were fighting but their goodbye seemed cut short.

“No,” Percy says, giving him a weird look as they drift by to the land. “Annabeth and I will always be friends, Grace.”

“Okay, chill. Anyways, you wanted to mock my gear.” Back on the grass, Jason kicks his school duffle bag to him and Percy attacks it with a glee Jason’s only see with candy bags and blue waffles.

“Sexy Minion suit. I need to see this on you.”

“Nope.”

Percy throws around Jason’s stuff like a little kid, making Jason scramble to pick it up.

“Huh?”

“What’s up?” Jason says, rubbing dirt out of his goggles.

“Unless my dyslexia is acting up, you got the wrong shirt, bro. ” Percy turns Jason’s jersey to show him. “Who the hell is Nephus?”

“Me, Percy. I can’t exactly be Jason Grace, the missing child of famous ‘80s TV star.” Percy’s face goes blank. Jason, preparing himself for another round of truly original teasing, ties the boat to the pier’s rickety leg. “Did you know there’s, like, online conspiracies about what happened to me and Thalia— oh my gods!”

Percy presses his foot to Jason’s side, kicking him roughly into the Camp Half Blood lake. Jason falls in like a boulder, mid-gasp causing him to swallow in water.

Jason pushes himself up to the surface, kicking off from the murky bottom. A nymph giggles and winks at him.

Jason scrambles for a hold in the grass, coughing burn out of his lungs. He blinks water from his eyes and glares at Percy from his wet, blond hair. “What in Pluto’s name was that?”

“Hera destroyed your life, Jason!” Percy’s eyes were dark and stormy, a swirly green that made him look dangerous. His jaw was so tight, but his face was both carefully blank and furious. “She turned you into a child-soldier when you were 2. She took you from your mom and now you can’t even be _you_ because of her. And here you are, following her orders and life plan to the T.”

Jason closes his eyes to the accusations, clutching the grass to pull himself up. The water doesn’t feel good anymore— it makes him feel clammy and exposed. This isn’t his element. It’s Percy’s.

“It’s not like Grace would have been a great mother,” Jason snaps, furious that Percy is making him say this.

“At least you could have been your own person,” Percy insists, tilting his head up. Percy seems like he is towering over Jason. Jason is an inch taller than Percy— he knows, they once measured themselves in front of everyone in ridiculous competition and Percy slinked into Annabeth’s arms for comfort as everyone laughed at him.

Great, now he is remembering Percy and Annabeth making out and it’s making his head feel even more cloudy.

“I choose to be with the Greeks—“

“And yet, you still feel like you owe your life to Hera.”

“Can’t you ever just watch what you say?” Jason hisses, quietly. The gods are always listening at the worst moments.

“I’m not afraid of her.”

“Well, I am,” Jason snap, feeling as if the words are ripped out of his chest. Jason stumbles back, shocked at his own admission.

Percy looks at him cooly. Almost disinterested. Jason feels so small.

“I— I’m leaving,” Jason mumbles and runs.

 

***

 

Jason has a dream. He is a dark place, following woman’s voice calling for him.

He is wearing his favorite Spider-Man shirt. Lia says every time he wears it, he has to be really, really brave for her. He always wants to be a good for Lia.

_Jason! Jason!_

Maybe it’s Mom. Maybe she finally found him and she can take him out of this scary place.

Jason walks, pushing branches with his small arms.

Jason sees the flicker of blond hair disappear as a woman hides behind the trunk of a large, large pine tree.

He turns around because he sees another lady. Tall and in white. She is wearing armor, with a severe face and long brown hair. Behind her, far away, there is a big wolf, looking at him with purposeful eyes.

He wants to go to the big dog but the brown-haired woman stops him.

“Why are you crying my little hero?”

“I lost my mom.”

“It’s okay.” She picks Jason up. “I found you.”

Jason feels safe and in danger at the same time. He buries his face into her neck, hugged in a way he doesn’t think he has ever been before.

Jason wakes up with tears on his cheeks.

 

***

 

Jason doesn’t often meet with his older sister. Thalia said that if he ever needed her, he just needed to IM, but he never got the courage to do that. As servant of Artemis, Thalia is an eternal being, otherworldly and divorced from mortal life so much that Jason finds it hard to be around her. They are so different now. But he doesn’t know where else to go.

Thalia looks bizarre in ripped jeans and a black, loose jacket, standing in a crowded LA cafe. Her hair is spiky around her thin, elegant face. He knows vaguely Thalia is into the grunge scene, but he never knew that girl.

She slides in her seat, holding a chocolate frap in her hands with a smirk. “Not technically allowed to have these— mortal waste, says the boss. But you know, not too bad to indulge.”

“If you want to kiss a couple of people while you are at it, I won’t tell,” Jason says, zipping his mouth and throwing away an imaginary key.

“Wow, in Hollywood for a second and already is corrupted. Where’s my sweet toddler?”

“Died via staple poisoning.”

Thalia tips her head back with a gentle laugh. It sounds like bells— it’s nice.

“But seriously, why LA? Aren’t you up north?”

“Needed to get out of there. I feel—“ Jason stops and starts again. “Bad.”

“Articulate.”

“Like, really bad?” Jason tries. His voice lowers, as if he is worried about someone like Chloe in the dark corner of the cafe, ready to stream this on Instagram. “I just feel bad all the time.”

Thalia sits up straight, studying him. “Did someone hurt you?”

“No."

“Bad quest?”

“No. Nothing related to that. Just. I feel,” Jason clutches the front of his shirt. “Lonely.” Gods, that was lame.

Thalia’s mouth is pursed. Jason wonders if she is angry.

Jason has never been good with constant talking, but he does it anyways. “After Piper, I feel like I have nothing but time to think. I think about everything I did wrong at Camp, at Rome. And then Juno comes in—“

Thalia blinks, alert. “What?”

“And she suddenly acts like my helicopter mom, changing my class schedule and making me do crew.”

“Wait, Jason, what? Crew?”

“By Jove, what does she want? Even the ‘nice’ gods aren’t this involved. I can’t believe I’m saying I don’t want a mom. It’s all I ever wanted. What is wrong with me?”

Thalia’s blue eyes— electric and beautiful and lined with makeup— are wide. Her freckles look more apparent against her pale skin.

She swallows, curling her hand on the table. She makes a gesture, as if she wants to hold his hand, but pulls back.

“I didn’t know she visited you. That’s wretched—“

“As least she does,” Jason hisses, suddenly the need to defend Juno rising in him. “Where in Pluto’s name have you been?”

Thalia’s jaw sets, eyes flaring, looking satisfyingly imperfect. “I serve my—“

“Yes, awesome. You can judge me for following Juno’s wishes but here you are serving another god who also messes with people’s lives.”

A bolt of lightning springs from Thalia’s fingers, directly smashing an outlet behind the counter. A waitress squeaks and spills pink-lemonade on her white apron. A customer yells at her.

The lights flicker over the Grace siblings’ heads, gazing each other steadily. Randomly, Jason is startled to remember that they are technically the same physical age. In a year, he will be a year older than her.

“I’m not…judging you,” she tries. “I just don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.”

She looks away, eyes tracking the streets. Her fingers play with the head of an arrow, a perfectly shaped piece of stone. Jason watches as she twirls it down each finger, letting the sharp edge press against her thumb whenever she takes a moment to pause.

“Crew?” She said.

“Ivies will like it,” he said, miserably. “She wants me to get into an Ivy but I’d rather get into—“

“Percy?”

“Oh my gods,” Jason scowls. “What are you—“

“Annabeth told me you two have been hanging out. And also, I was just teasing but your ears are red. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Jason says nothing.

“Wow. Gods, what is the irresistible allure of Percy Jackson? His charming stupidity?”

Jason’s mouth twitches into a smile, unable to help himself. “Must be. I don’t know. We’ve been spending a lot of time together and I just—”

“Been lonely?”

“He makes me happy. Sometimes, that’s enough. He makes me try harder. I’m so content with being depressed and unsatisfied, Thalia. He makes me want to be happier.”

Thalia tabs the arrow head on the table, humming to herself. “Okay, you wanna stick your tongue down his tongue.”

“Hot?”

“Shut up.” Thalia smirks before melting into a serious look.

“I know. Annabeth, right?”

“I…can’t tell you about that, Jason.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just. It’s okay to fall for people. Punishing yourself over your feelings is a stupid thing to do. Everyone has them.”

“A Hunter of Artemis giving me romantic advice.”

“Shut up, loser.”

They settle into a warm silence. Thalia passes him the arrow head to fiddle with.

Jason has one more thing to say.

“I barely remember Lupa. She raised me and I don’t know anything. It’s not fair— why does Percy get to remember it all and it all still feels missing to me. I don’t even remember my own childhood.”

Thalia blinks, tears in her eyes. It makes her look human, for the first time. Then she swallows and tries for a smile. “What do you want to know then, little brother?”

Jason look down at his coffee. The chatter of the cafe feels miles away.

“What was my first birthday like?”

 

***

 

“So, I think I’m gay.”

Reyna hums through the IM. “Yes.”

“You knew?”

“You were more settled on bisexual. It’s a spectrum, Jason.”

“I. Uh.”

“Juno took your memories away during that point of time you were figuring it out.” She sounds sympathetic.

Jason feels a pang in his chest. Another thing taken away from him, neato. “Did I. Did I have a boyfriend?”

“No, you were too guarded for that,” She gives him a small, sad smile. “You came out to me a few months before you disappeared. Well, we both came out to each other.”

“You’re bisexual too?”

“I’m more exclusive,” she said, with a wry smile.

“Oh! Oh, cool. Dope.”

“Dope,” Reyna repeats in confusion. It was kind of a Percy thing to say. “Jason— I’m sorry. But it was no longer my place to tell you.”

“No, I get you. I lost the right to your help.”

Reyna looked a little shocked. “Jason—“

“I treated you like shit, you know this.” Jason’s heart hurts. He remembers Nico’s distress, his loneliness, when Cupid horribly forced him out. He feels that know, knowing he left his friend behind.

“A little bit,” Reyna admits. “But I feel better now that you are groveling.”

Jason laughs, wiping his eyes. She bites her lips, cheeks flushed.

He missed her. He missed her.

“Jason…I have a girlfriend.”

He brightens up. She is smiling back— not sly or quiet but big and bright. She is so lovely.

“I hope she’s nice,” Jason says.

“She is. And very smart. Maybe the smartest of them all?” Reyna winces.

“Oh,” Jason says. _“Oh.”_

 

***

 

“It looks like shit. This is why we need to admit girls to this fucking school. They know what to do with decor—” Brian yelps as Mark Windsor punches him.

“Shut up, asshole. That’s sexist. And it looks great, Ali.” Mark was a spindly junior, a year older than Jason.

Ali’s face brightens. As the President of NHS, Ali was in charge of the end of the semester Honors dinner and the venue was always the school’s gym. If Jason hadn’t seen the palace of Olympus, he would have been more blown away.

“You managed to turn the worst places I know into something ripped out of a Menlo Park house. It’s wonderful, man,” Jason says.

“Thanks guys. I just wish Walder would chill. He’s ruining the energy.”

The boys turn to their advisor, pacing in and out of the gym, avoiding the inevitable prodding questions of SoCal parents.

“I don’t blame him, honestly. I know I’m WASP too, but I heard one of these moms whining that her sixth grader isn’t juice-cleansing already.”

“Jesus.”

Brian grabs Jason’s shoulder, pulling him to the food spread. “Alright, me and Nephus are going to attack the shrimp because I need hundred dollar worth of something in my stomach to make it through this night.”

Later, as they are all settled down and Jason gets the dubious honor to next to their nervous advisor, who is trying to field off questions by getting up and taking laps around the room.

Eventually he settles down and talks to Jason, which Jason attempts to be as pleasant as possible for his sake.

“You have been rather impressive this year, Mr. Nephus. Where did you transfer from again?”

“New York,” Jason says, as honest as he could, preening under the praise. 

“Ah. And have you selected next semester’s classes?”

“Yeah, I was—“ Mr. Walder’s eyes widen and Jason stopped talking.

“Um, hello, can I help you—?“ Mr. Walder asks.

A women smoothly takes the chair next to Jason— was there a place open?

She is a stern looking woman, her beauty unquestionably severe. All business, she wear a button up jacket over a plain white shirt. Jewelry kept to simple silver chains. She had brown hair in a bun, with a part swooping over the side of her clear, beautiful face.

Juno.

Jason is so stiff, he feels like a plank. He feels like he is shaking. His arms hurt underneath his suit jacket.

“Hello. I’m Regina Nephus— Jason’s stepmother.” her voice is crisp but not rude.

Walder smiles, a little brighter at her than the other parents. Godly magic or finally, there is a face to Jason’s mysterious parents in a school full of rumors. Even teachers love gossip.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, ma’am. I was just commending your stepson on his fantastic first semester here. He is quite the responsible young man.”

“He is,” she says, pushing stray hairs from Jason’s forehead. It’s a move so practiced, it’s almost like she has done it a hundred times before. Like she is his mother, gently adjusting her teenager at a fancy event in a way only a mother can comfortably do.

Walder acts like it’s nothing but Jason feels like his skin burns where Juno touches him.

“Jason was given many responsibilities as a child. It has helped him grow.” She says. “How does the school help prep for graduation?”

“State of the art— you can’t find another school in the country with care like ours.”

“Care, hmm,” Juno purses lips, eyes flickering to Jason in concern. “If I remember correctly, Jason was harassed as one of his classmates’s _get togethers_ a few months ago.”

Jason’s stomach drop while Walder goes white. “Oh my lord, Mrs. Nephus please know that we do not condone that behavior here and can immediately talk to those students—“

“Oh Jove, she’s just protective, Mr. Walder,” Jason interrupts quickly, hoping the other parents are not listening. Fat chance. “You know— _Moms_.”

Juno frowns at Jason and Walder lets a nervous laugh.

“‘Jove.’ Your son has a strange manner of speaking, sometimes.”

“He gets it from his father,” she says cooly.

“And will Mr. Nephus ever come to our events?” Jason wonders how flushed his account must be in this school, to get this kind of act from Walder.

“Not likely. My husband prefers his children to be more independent. I have elected to look after Jason.”

The math doesn’t make sense to Walder, obviously. Multiple, apparently adult, children, but Juno looks like an ageless 35-something.

Everyone else is definitely listening, bleached blond heads turned to them at the table. One dad with two golden watches definitely tries to look down Juno’s shirt and Jason bristles at it.

“Well, that was very good of you.”

“Hm,” Juno turned to the others. “How have you enjoyed this school?”

Jason watches Juno grill Silicon Valley’s richest with a cool patience. He watches her get up and talk to his professors, like she is his mother. Like she knows him.

She is mostly nodding, humming, looking knowing and contemplative. She asks about college sometimes, but mostly it is about Jason.

She sometimes is engaged. The longest was with the Latin teacher, speaking perfectly fluently as he beams at her.

_“He is a wonderful kid. Helped me out of a couple of sticky situations. Don’t raise him as nice anymore.”_

_“I don’t know where the gentle part comes from. His father and mother lack it. His sister certainly does.”_

His teacher lets out a startled laugh. He was too cool to let the over-sharing make him awkward. _“Perhaps, you, Regina?”_

_“Unfortunately, I am not very gentle either.”_

Jason hovers at her side, like a little kid grabbing his mom’s skirt. He wants to hide behind her and from her. Everything is blurry, his vision feels weird. Jason checks his glasses but realizes he keeps tearing up.

Everything is so weird.

“Why are you doing this?” Jason asks, exhaustion settling in his bones as they finally leave.

Juno glances at his at the side, surprised. “I needed to see how you were doing myself.” 

She leaves then, stepping into the night. Jason watches her go, knowing that a line has been crossed.

 

***

 

 

It’s the night of the first race. Whoo-hoo.

Jason wakes up, hellishly early as usual. He puts on his uniform, snug around his ass in a way that feel weirdly comfortable, if stupid looking. He makes a decision.

His team crowds in the boat and they push and pull. His captain shout chants in perfect rhythm. People scream and cheer from the side of the lake.

After hours of practice with crew and Percy, Jason feels like natural, like the water finally stopped fighting him. Jason grins wildly the entire time.

And just as the reach the finish line, Jason gets up and jumps off the boat in a messy canon ball. 

He hears the whistle of disqualification when he breaks the surface to breath again, feeling the coolness of the water and air brush against his face. His hair is longer, against crew’s haircut regulations, but it feels good to have it silky against his ears. His eyes are closed and he smiles, years of fighting monsters allowing him to dodge the angry spits and whacks of oars from his teammates. 

He swims, clumsily, to shore with his team’s boat. As he gets out, he just smiles sunnily as his teammates and classmates hiss and jeer.

“What the fuck, Nephus?”

“It’s Grace,” Jason says and throws his jersey at Chase’s face. This does leave him in only his wetsuit, which causes a girl to wolf-whistle at him. He’ll take it.

He pushes against the crowd and his yelling coach.

And it’s Percy at the back, leaning against a tree in dark jeans and a green zip-up.

Percy, his green eyes shining, his smile bright and wide. His black hair is feathered around his sharp face, with the lock of gray hair kissing his eyebrow. Everyone screams behind Jason but all he focuses on is Percy, handsome and dangerous and unpredictable. 

“What in the Hades’s was that, Grace?”

“Just being spontaneous.”

“Well, next time, I need to teach you to swim properly.”

“I do _fine_ but I like to learn,” Jason walks pass him and Percy follows, but not before causing the water of the lake to ripple in seemingly terrifying ways because the crowd disperses immediately.

They end up alone next to the boat house, Percy checking him out head to toe.

“You look ridiculous. God, this is all so weird,” Percy decides before pushing Jason against the wood of the boathouse and kissing him, teeth clattering against him. He kisses him and kisses him, the beginnings of his stubble against Jason’s cheek. Jason sighs in return.

Percy kisses his cheek, licking the water of the lake that slides down his hair.

“This is so weird,” Percy mutters, returning to Jason’s mouth. Jason tries not to take what he is saying too personally, because gods, his knees are shaking. “You did wonderfully, Jace.”

“T-Thanks. Great teacher, you know?”

“Tell me more.” Percy lays a row of kisses down his neck slowly and deliberately. It is driving Jason crazy, causing his breath to start and stutter.

“Nice. Generous about his time. Not very patient.” Percy huffs a laugh against his throat and Jason shivers, because Percy Jackson is calm and serious, studying at Jason through his black bangs with a steady and thoughtful gaze. He isn’t joking around or making goofy faces— it is enough to make Jason nervous and shy.

But it’s Percy, so Jason cradles Percy’s jaw with his hands. He is so happy, he feels like he is bursting with electricity and it won’t hurt Percy, it will just make him more powerful and beautiful than he already is.

 

***

 

Jason is going to call Reyna and his former family in New Rome more often. He is going to find every single person who ever helped raise him and ask them for all of the details about his childhood. He is going to IM Thalia more. He is going to get coffee with Frank and Hazel.

He is going to see Lupa again.

He is going to take Nico di Angelo hiking and they are going to make s’mores. Jason is going to let Nico yell at him for being an idiot and not going to him earlier. Jason is going to let Nico say this before the son of Hades eventually hugs him, whispering again and again how sorry he is for missing Jason’s weird depressive episodes.

He is going to take the art classes he wanted and he is going to make statues in New Rome with Annabeth. 

He is going to track down Leo and yell at him, then tell him that he loves his best friend.

He is going to tell Piper that it sucks Hera and Aphrodite tried to force them in a way that didn’t work. He is going to tell her that he is a little gay too and that he hopes he can always be her friend.

He is going to kiss Percy every single day until he dies.

“Busy schedule,” Percy says, shirt rucked to his chest and hair wild under Jason’s fingers. His mouth is dark and swollen from kissing so much and his pupils are blown wide.

“Worth it,” Jason mumbles against his mouth.

 

***

 

This time, Jason goes to Juno.

Or rather Hera, as it is her who sits quietly near beaches. She is wearing her traditional Greek robes, blinding white and looping around her arms. Her long brown hair falls down her shoulders and she sits primly, back straight, looking at the ocean with a faraway look.

She holds herself is a less stiff manner than Juno, but she is scarier. There is a potential of destruction rumbling underneath her skin. Jason remembers Hercules and his family. He wonders if Hera would do the same to him now that he had so obviously went against her wishes. Kissing Percy must have been her last straw.

It’s okay, he thinks, because Percy could take him down if Hera magically induced Jason into going crazy. Then that train of thought halts, because Jason just equalized Percy to _Megara_ and the back of his neck flushes.

“My Lady?”

“Yes, Jason?”

Her face is blank but he can feel her disappointment. Jason fights the urge to grovel and apologize.

“I do not mean to offend you, I just—“

“‘Wanted to be your own man?’” Hera says, guessing the end of his sentence. “Of course, it had to be my demigod to forsake me.”

“Wasn’t there a whole war the Greeks fought about demigods forsaking their parents? My Lady, please know that is not the case with me,” Jason says, trying to keep his voice from going tight.

He is going to be killed. She is going to rip his tongue out of his mouth. She is going to wait until he gets married and adopts a bunch of babies and then make him go crazy and kill them all.

She glances at him from the side of his eye. “After you and your…former lover—“ Jason wants to balk at the word, it’s so weird to hear it. “split, you went to the park. The one where you became mine.”

Jason’s breath stutters.

“My sister’s domain is with family— the kindness, the warmth. I am…the idea of birth and family. Sometimes, you forget about the warmth and the individual.” She runs her fingers through the ends of the hair. “I know what you all think— that the gods do not see you as anything beyond something to play with. In most cases— almost all— you would be correct.”

The Queen of Olympus’s voice is smooth but Jason feels like he hears a shake.

“Thetis loved her son. Even when Achilles _failed_ , died, she loved him. My brother, as dreaded as he is, loves his son— that morbid little friend of yours— so much. I don’t understand why I— the ruler of marriage and birth, _my domain_ , can’t have that. My children have been such disappointments. I have been discarded so many times. You were suppose to the last one. You were suppose to be mine.”

It is so sad, so full of sorrow. Jason’s eyes burn and his heart feels like a stone in the Camp Half-Blood lake, sinking, sinking, sinking.

“Sometimes I forget how fragile you all are,” She whispers, kind of in awe, looking down and playing with her fingers. “Sometimes it is quite beautiful. But I forgot with you especially and it has damaged you. It was never my goal to have hurt you, Jason Grace.”

Jason falls next to her, refusing to look at her. They both look across the lake.

At the end, Jason apologizes. It’s who he is, after all.

“I am sorry I couldn’t be the soldier you needed me to be.”

Hera looks at him for a long moment. Jason aches to know what she sees.

Her brown eyes track his face— he has his Beryl’s hair, Beryl’s cheekbones and lips. He has the scar on his lip and he has Jupiter’s jaw.

His step-mother leaves, a flash of light so soft it barely hurts him.

There is smell of lilac and it fills Jason’s chest, a warmth he has never felt before.

When Jason gets back to camp, he sees Percy lounging in front Cabin One. It is weird, Percy usually stays clear of it.

“Hey— ready to go?” Percy says, surprisingly gentle. He must have saw the remnants of his conversation with Juno on Jason’s face.

“Yeah, I am.” Jason first pushes Percy against the wall of his cabin, cupping his face, and kissing him flush on the mouth. “Race ya to the gate.”

“Dope,” Percy says, sounding a little dreamy. “What— oh, come on, Grace, that’s not fair!”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. kudo/comments would be wonderful. please let me know about glaring grammar mistakes.


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